Spokane City Council considers immigrant protection through parks ordinance
Immigrant advocates in Spokane are suggesting creative ways to protect people in the city from immigration enforcement.
Spokane City Council is set to vote Monday night on whether to give the Parks board the authority to temporarily make areas of parks “non-public.”
The intent is to keep federal immigration agents from arresting people at community celebrations without a warrant.
"For example, if World Refugee Day was going to have a ticketed event in a park, then this would create a safeguard for people there in the event of a warrantless search," said City Council member Paul Dillon while discussing the ordinance when it was first introduced to the council in May.
Councilmember Michael Cathcart has brought up concerns about its legality and efficacy.
"It doesn’t seem to me like it would actually accomplish what it’s suggesting it would accomplish because there are a number of court cases again that talk about expectations of privacy," he said. "You can be in a quote-unquote nonpublic area and not have an expectation of privacy."
The Parks Board is against the proposed ordinance. If it passes, it would not create any protections for people going to or from an event.
NW lawmakers urge NIOSH rehirings
Six Northwest congressional members are urging the Trump administration to reverse its plans to close a federal occupational safety lab in Spokane.
Dozens of employees at the Spokane office of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health were laid off, effective in June. The agency also laid off workers at its east coast labs. Some of those workers have since been recalled.
U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA05) and the others who wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior said that gives the impression that western worker safety issues are not important.
They urged Kennedy to reconsider the cost effectiveness and importance of the work done in Spokane. Researchers there study occupational hazards in a variety of industries, from mining to commercial fishing.
Also signing the letter were central Washington U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA04), U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID01), U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) and U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID).
Knauss sworn in as Chewelah's interim mayor
One Stevens County town has a new interim mayor. In Chewelah, council members appointed the new official last week, nearly two months after former Mayor Greg McCunn resigned.
Dorothy Knauss was sworn in Wednesday, and she’s no stranger to the position.
Knauss has been involved in city matters since 1979 after being hired as city clerk. She served as Chewelah’s mayor from 2014 to 2021.
"I felt like when I knew there was an opening, I couldn't not volunteer to come back," she said.
Knauss told SPR News she’s excited to temporarily step back in the role until the elections and hopes to reach out to civic groups during her time in office.
Murray calls for answers after Trump strikes Iran
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) is condemning President Donald Trump’s choice to strike nuclear facilities in Iran this weekend.
In a statement, the senator said she agrees that Iran should not possess nuclear weapons; however, Murray asserted that the strike was an act of war and that the president does not have the power to authorize such an act without congressional approval.
"It is critical that Congress ask important questions before approval—Congress needs to understand what intelligence the administration is acting upon, what the goal is, what the endgame is, and whether we have built an international coalition of support. None of this happened," the statement reads in part.
Murray also said that Congress has not yet been presented with any evidence that the strikes in Iran were justified.
"I will continue to demand answers and to speak up on behalf of my constituents, the overwhelming majority of whom do not want to be dragged into yet another forever war," Murray's statement concludes.
UW-Gonzaga present lectures to educate on fentanyl, meth
Budget cuts at state and federal levels may hurt efforts in Washington to wean people off of fentanyl and other opioids.
Caleb Banta-Green, a researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said the state legislature cut by one-third the amount of money set aside to buy the overdose reversal drug naloxone, also known as Narcan.
He also worries federal budget cuts could reduce access to other effective medications.
"The best-case scenarios that naloxone being widely available would drive down the overdose rate by 4%," he told SPR News. "But the treatment medications methadone and buprenorphine, they can drive down the overdose rate by over 50%.
"So we really need to expand access and keep people on those medications as long as possible."
Banta-Green will be one of the featured speakers Tuesday night at a University of Washington-Gonzaga Health Partnership lecture about fentanyl and methamphetamine.
The free event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in the Globe Room in Cataldo Hall.
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Reporting by Eliza Billingham, Doug Nadvornick, Monica Carrillo-Casas and Owen Henderson.